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Windies desperate to write Lara's farewell script in winning style

By Staff

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 18 (UNI) West Indies will be hoping to present two consecutive wins as a farewell gift to their captain Brian Lara and inturn salvage some pride and honour, when they take on an uncertain Bangladesh tomorrow and a demoralised England just two days later to round of their participation in this edition of the mega event.

Brian Lara's side is already out of semi-final contention after losing all four Super Eight matches they played so far and they will be looking to seal off their seemingly 'forgetable' World Cup campaign with some respectability. the Caribbean coach Bennett King is optimistic that his team has the potential to the achieve that.

''It has been disappointing. We have got to turn those disappointing results around and hope to bring some of the pride back into the team and into West Indies cricket,'' said King.

The former Australian Academy coach who took over charge of the Caribbean team in 2004, however, believes win in the last two games would definitely have an impact on the future of the island nation's cricket.

''I don't think pride is missing. We must get behind the players and support them and look for some structures to be put in place for the future,'' King said.

''We still have to win the games and it's important for us to finish the competition on a good note and have the momentum for the next tournament,'' the 42-year-old coach added.

Meanwhile, after witnessing their team's devasting run in the home turf, not many Caribbean fans are in a mood to shell out their hard earned money to go and support the their team. But the only magnetic force which will force them to throng the stadium in these two matches is the emotional bond with their genius-son Brian Lara.

The 37-year-old charas matic left-handed batsman will be playing last two matches of his IDI career as he has already announced his retirement from the shorter version of the game after the mega event and would geared up to end the most precious innings of his life on a high note.

''It was all well till the group stages but we goofed up later and could not recover when we needed most. I too played badly in the crunch games,'' an emotional Lara said hoping that his admirers would assemble in large numbers for the last hurrah.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, despite occasional brilliance, when they defeated India and South Africa, are push-overs and England is so demoralised that it would be surprising if they can play some exciting cricket in their last match.

However, Bangladesh after a dream run in the tournament would not like to go down as number eight team and victory against West Indies would exactly do wonders for them before the tough home series against India next month.

''I was frustrated in the last match. We played so badly. I did not want to stand at number eight after doing so well,'' a dejected Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar said, urging his players to play one last good match for the country.

''In fact we are capable and we can beat them,'' he added.

A victory in the last two matches for the Lara's men will provide them the required motivation for a tough England tour next month where they play four Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and three one-day internationals.

UNI

Story first published: Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 12:43 [IST]
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